Thai Airways International (TG, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi) expects to take delivery of 23 leased aircraft by the end of 2025, according to Piyasvasti Amranand, chairman of the airline's debt rehabilitation administrator. Amranand spoke to media in Bangkok late last week after reporting Thai's fourth consecutive quarterly profit and saying that the airline should wrap up its court-supervised restructuring by late 2024.
Existing lease agreements will see Thai Airways take delivery of eleven A350-900s, two A330-300s, one B787-9, and twelve unspecified A321-types, for a total of 26 aircraft. Three A350-900s have already arrived - HS-THQ (msn 266) sourced from Avolon, HS-THR (msn 245) also from Avolon, and HS-THV (msn 187) sourced from AerCap, leaving 23 aircraft undelivered. Thai expects another two A350s to arrive before the end of the year.
The airline says another eight aircraft from the tally will land in Bangkok by mid-2024. Amranand says over the course of next year, six more A350-900s will ferry in. By mid-2024, Thai anticipates receiving half of the 26 leased aircraft, although, beyond discussion about the A350 type, Amranand did not provide further aircraft type delivery details.
In his comments to the media, Amranand said that as of September 30, 2023, Thai Airways and its soon-to-be merged subsidiary Thai Smile (Bangkok Suvarnabhumi), had 68 active aircraft plus seven aircraft still in long-term parking and a further 26 decommissioned aircraft which have been sold or are in the process of being sold. The administrator said despite uncertainty surrounding the Chinese economy and industry-wide upheaval caused by unrest in the Middle East and the Ukraine war, Thai was performing well and continuing to recover from Covid-19.
The airline has posted a 2024 third-quarter net profit of THB1.54 billion baht (USD43.4 million), a sharp turnaround from the THB4.79 billion (USD134.9 million) loss reported in the comparable 2022 quarter. Passenger loads have averaged 77.3%, higher than last year's average of 77.0%, and the total number of passengers carried was 3.27 million, a 22% increase from the comparable 2022 quarter.
Amranand also confirmed plans to exit the court-supervised restructuring and rehabilitation plan by the end of 2024. Thailand's insolvency legislation typically allows firms five years to work through the rehabilitation process. Thai Airways will comfortably beat that deadline. The restructuring and rehabilitation process has involved reorganising the fleet, cutting costs, restructuring debts, and recapitalising the airline.
